How are consumers protecting themselves against online fraud?

Whether you’re the millionth visitor on a website, the sole recipient of your long-lost aunt’s exorbitant inheritance, or you’ve simply been randomly selected for some sort of bumper prize, everyone has likely experienced an unbelievable offer on the internet that is simply too good to be true. However, online fraud has come a long way since the days of these desperate email scams, and is now a rapidly-growing organised criminal effort that poses a serious threat to internet users. In fact, the latest Office for National statistics found that over half (1.8 million) of the 3.2 million incidents of fraud in England and Wales were cyber related in the year ending September 2017. Figures from the UK anti-fraud organisation Cifas further corroborate these statistics: revealing that identity theft is at epidemic levels, with a record high of 89,000 reported cases in the first six months of 2017 alone.

To better understand how people are responding to the growing threat, we spoke to 2,000 consumers to find out more about the strategies they are using to combat fraud.